[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 30 (Friday, February 13, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S2348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             A TEAM EFFORT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, just in closing, it has been a long, hard 
several weeks for our valiant staff, and there is not any way anyone 
could suggest well enough the enormous contributions they make to 
making this body flourish the way it does.
  We have gotten a tremendous amount of work done this first working 
period of this Congress. We should be proud of what we have done. We 
have passed the most sweeping environmental bill in more than 25 years. 
We have passed the discrimination bill, the Lilly Ledbetter bill, which 
is an important piece of legislation for women all over America. We 
passed the Children's Health Insurance Program, which allow millions of 
American children to have health insurance coverage that they would not 
have ordinarily. And we just passed this bill to help our struggling 
economy. So I think the American people should see that we have worked 
together on a bipartisan basis to accomplish a lot.
  We are so fortunate to have our new President. It is a pleasure to 
work with him. I have had, this past couple of weeks, the ability to 
visit with him firsthand in legislative combat.
  They are competent. I am so impressed. The President's chief of staff 
Rahm Emanuel--we could not have done this without his assistance, 
guidance, and directness.
  We had the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, 
who I called personally last night to tell him that I know he is not a 
longtime person involved in politics, but he is a natural. He is a 
brilliant man. He has a degree from Princeton. He has a Ph.D. from the 
London School of Economics. I am very impressed with this man, who I 
did not know other than to say hello to, but I have gotten to know him 
well because we have spent days together in the last short period of 
time.
  The President's representative up here, who we will deal with all the 
time, Phil Schiliro, has done a really wonderful job.
  Rob Nabors, who was the longtime staff assistant, director of the 
Appropriations Committee for Chairman Obey, has been magnificent in his 
work for the White House, working as Peter Orszag's assistant.
  There are a lot of people who allowed us to get to where we are, and 
I appreciate very much their help. It was a real long, hard pull.
  The Presiding Officer, my dear friend, the senior Senator from the 
State of Illinois, who came to Washington with me in 1982, has been 
invaluable during this very difficult time working on this bill.
  Senator Schumer of New York, of course, works with me and Senator 
Durbin on all the things we do.
  And the final point of that legislative team is Patty Murray. She is 
such a contributor to this Senate. I have such respect for her. She has 
such a soft touch, but she is as strong as anybody in the Senate.
  I am not going to go through the entire list of people. Many, many 
worked hard.
  The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Inouye, is a 
hero in many different ways. He is a Member of the Senate who has had 
the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to him for his valiant efforts 
in World War II.
  The chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus, was involved 
in this from the very beginning and did such a great job.
  My personal staff has spent longer hours than I have put in. My chief 
of staff Gary Myrick is very quiet but such a help to me and the 
Senate; Randy Devalk, everyone in the Senate depends on him. He is a 
wealth of knowledge, a fountain of legislative information, and he has 
just been, really, a remarkably good person.
  Mr. President, I am sure I have left off people, but this piece of 
legislation, I am so happy we were able to get it done.
  I will never, ever forget the valiancy of those three brave 
Republicans who broke from the pack and stood alone to tell America 
that we needed to do something with our economy which needed help: 
Senator Snowe from Maine, and Senator Collins from Maine, Senator 
Specter from Pennsylvania. But for them we would not be where we are.
  Senator Inouye was masterful in what he did. Senator Baucus was 
tremendous in the Finance Committee, and his staff. Senator Baucus's 
staff was really very good, led by Russ Sullivan, who we depend on--all 
of us--for his knowledge. He is a CPA. He has been a feature in the 
Senate for a long time and he was so very important.
  I did not mention a person we have come to depend on in the Senate--
all of us--because he has been the chief person on the Appropriations 
Committee for Senator Byrd, and that is Chuck Kieffer, who was with us 
all the time, as was Senator Inouye's chief clerk on the Appropriations 
Committee, Charlie Houy.
  Now, as I said, I am sure I have missed a few people because this 
was, really, a big team effort.
  In my own mind, this piece of legislation is the most important piece 
of legislation I have worked on for the country. The country is in 
trouble, and we are so fortunate we were able to get it passed. It is 
going to give this country a shot in the arm. My State of Nevada needs 
this so very much. We are going to have a number of meetings in Nevada 
next week to talk about all the good that will flow to Nevada as a 
result of its passage.
  As usual, Lula Davis is so important to how we function here. She is 
the person who tells us how we can move forward on things. She is 
invaluable to every Democratic Senator, and especially to me.
  As I announced earlier, Mr. President, the next vote will occur at 11 
a.m., Tuesday, February 24. That vote will be on the motion to invoke 
cloture on the motion to proceed to the District of Columbia House 
voting rights legislation.

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